yetwe7shek lkheer يتوحشك الخير
Algerian Darja · expression
“yetwe7shek lkheer” (يتوحشك الخير) is an expression in Algerian Darja meaning reply to "I missed you".
Meanings
- reply to "I missed you"
Usage
Yetwe7shek lkheer is the conventional reply when someone says twe7shtek ("I missed you") or twe7shnak ("we missed you"). Literally, the phrase means "may goodness miss you": you wish the other person that good things come to them as they have come to you. It is equivalent to a warm and polite "you too". It is heard at reunions, on phone calls or in messages, in all registers. The form agrees with the person addressed: yetwe7shek for the masculine singular, yetwe7shech for the feminine in some regions, yetwe7shkom for the plural.
Example
- توحشتك بزاف! - يتوحشك الخير
- twe7shtek bezzaf ! - yetwe7shek lkheer
“— I missed you so much! — You too, may goodness visit you.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “yetwe7shek lkheer” but also “yetwahchek lkhir” and “yetwe7chek lkhir”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.